Toronto Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic described his relationship with his colleague from the San Antonio Spurs, Gregg Popovich.
Rajakovic and Popovich had a warm encounter after the Serbian coach recently outplayed his Texas rival.
“Gregg is my long-time friend. I had the opportunity to work in San Antonio with him. I learned a lot from him and from that organization, so it’s always nice to hear support. He’s one of the first people who called me when I got the job.
We’re constantly in touch. He always tells me that whatever I need, I can call him. He’s my mentor and a good friend, so I often rely on his advice and support,” emphasized Rajakovic in an interview for Sportal.
![Joel Embiid](https://basketballsphere.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Joel-Embiid.png)
“Raptors don’t represent just one city”
The Serbian coach also spoke about what makes the Toronto Raptors unique.
“The Toronto Raptors are definitely different from the other 29 teams, primarily because this is a team that represents not only the city of Toronto but the entire country of Canada. All 35 million people living here are big fans of the team. In contrast, every other market, such as Los Angeles, Charlotte, New York, supports a local team, just the city backs that team. Here, the entire country stands behind the team, it’s a massive market, so everyone pays significant attention to the team and everything happening around it.
Masai Ujiri is our president, he lived in Belgrade, has great respect for European and Serbian basketball, so the international spirit is felt throughout the city and the entire organization, which is something that I really appreciate. We have excellent communication, great collaboration, and we share the same vision for our team’s development. All of this makes my adjustment to the new role much simpler and easier,” concluded Darko Rajakovic.
The Toronto Raptors are currently in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with a record of 8-8 in the NBA.